]]>For those who follow OMAi’s projects around the world, the combination of Particle Physics and projection art isn’t new. At Paseo festival 2018, this intriguing combination was expanded by playfully juxtaposing quantum physics with indigenous cosmology.

Everything started in 2014 when new media artist and educator Agnes Chavez invited OMAi’s Markus Dorninger to work together on a combined workshop/performance format for young people, in collaboration with the scientists of the Atlas Experiment at CERN. The idea was to use Tagtool to understand and communicate concepts from quantum physics through personal expression. The result was a resounding success, so Agnes invited Markus to repeat the partnership at the 12th Havana Biennial in Cuba (as can be seen in this video).

In September this year they met again at Paseo Festival, and this time they joined forces with Steve Tamayo, a Cultural Specialist from the Lakota tribe. This time the aim was to playfully juxtapose the scientific world of quantum physics with native American cosmology.

Steve built a teepee at Kit Carson park in the center of Taos, which became the perfect 360 degree canvas to bring his stories to life using Tagtool. During the two festival days the audience could witness captivating narratives weaved by Steve being visualized live as stunning projections by Markus.

For five hours each night, every fifteen minutes, twenty spectators were invited to come into the teepee to get a taste of Steve’s and Markus’ storytelling – “Good Medicine”.

Additional drawings were contributed by students of Taos Day School, Taos Integrated School of the Arts, Santa Fe Indian School and the Native American Community Academy. They were created in workshops preceding the festival.

We are looking forward to the next collaboration as part of the Projecting Particles Collective!

]]>Tagtool Convention @ Ars Electronicahttps://www.omai.at/tagtool-convention-ars-electronica/
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 22:21:56 +0000https://www.omai.at/?p=3224From September 6-10th, as part of Ars Electronica Festival, we lit up the industrial structures of PostCity hall in Linz. A multifunctional Tagtool community space hosted live performances and installations, as well as providing lots of opportunities for creative exchange.

]]>It was the kick-off to an exciting month! From September 6-10th, as part of Ars Electronica Festival, we lit up the industrial structures of PostCity hall in Linz. A multifunctional Tagtool community space hosted live performances and installations, as well as providing lots of opportunities for creative exchange. Tagtoolers got to know each other in person, jammed together and presented their personal projects surrounded by three unique installations by OMAi: the Tagtool Space, the Playground and Animaker.

A Tale of Three Installations

The Tagtool Space was developed especially for the Convention. It consists of a wall that curves smoothly at the bottom and extends over the floor. The space invited the audience to become part of the art. Of course the kids had great fun, and so did we. Especially during the times when we used the space as a stage for performances and jams!

The Playground is a spontaneous projection mapping on temporary structures, simulating an ever-changing urban landscape. The installation invites the audience to interfere creatively either by light-painting or building their own buildings or structures. The scenario was created using a combination of eco-friendly building blocks called Bioblo, and delicate paper-cut from artist Dieter Puntigam’s project Cell City.

Animaker is an interactive installation that breaks the border between the virtual and physical world. A large panoramic projection shows an ancient jungle temple. In front of it, visitors are asked to build animals out of Lego bricks. Their creations are placed on a 3D scanning station, where an AI-powered robot identifies them and brings them to life in the projected environment. This project was realised in partnership with The Tech Museum of Innovation from San Jose, and AI-startup Resonai. The animal designs were created by Mexican Tagtool artist Fernando Sica aka Rimiyoho. We’ll tell you more about this exciting project in a separate blog post!

Performances

Needless to say, we had some memorable Tagtool sessions during this intense and creative time together!

TAM (Theatre of Animation Art) came all the way from Ukraine to amaze the audience with their performance of “The Cat that Walked by Himself“. The show is based on the tale by Rudyard Kipling and combines puppeteering, shadow-play and digital projections. It also features beautiful masks inspired by Indonesian traditions. The live music was played in perfect interaction with the other elements, contributing to a totally unique and inspiring experience.

Dieter Puntigam – who also contributed the Cell City project as part of the Playground installation – performed with dancer Bea von Schrader. This Austrian duo has been working together since 2008, presenting performances with Tagtool and dance around Europe. This time they presented a delicate spectacle, a fluid and flowing non-verbal conversation between two artists who have found their voice and language.

Folkwires is Lora Shopovaand Ivan Shopov from Bulgaria. The duo combines their passion for technology and Bulgarian folklore in a wild audiovisual exploration of their culture. Lora transformed live-paintings of sacred and mystical geometries with digital effects, accompanied by Ivan’s exquisite sound design.

Yaguart is a Colombian artist with a Street Art background, currently based in Zaragosa. Inspired by Land Art, he loves to work with the shamanic power of light in natural spaces, but this time he presented an energetic and colorful solo live-painting performance, surrounded by the industrial interior of Post City hall.

Tetete is an interdisciplinary artist group from Austria, creating off-mainstream entertainment for children aged 6-99. Improvisation is at the core of their work. Story, music and scenery are created live in front of the audience. At the Tagtool Convention they presented a peek into their magic universe, with Christian Reiner on microphone and the one-and-only Karl Ritter on guitar.

Last but not least, several Jam Sessions brought together all these exquisite artists in various combinations!

Back into the Deep Space!

The Tagtool Convention wasn’t confined to our community space! Like last year, we presented a collective animated painting at Ars Electronica Center’s Deep Space. Using this giant, high resolution canvas, the Tagtool crew created a stunning interactive scenery in which the audience could walk around in.

New Tagtool version coming soon!

All this work was done with the upcoming new version of Tagtool. Stay tuned: a new public beta version will be available very soon! We will post news about the upcoming new version on our forums.

]]>Tagtool Convention @ Ars Electronica 2018https://www.omai.at/coming-up-tagtool-convention-ars-electronica-2018/
Thu, 02 Aug 2018 15:44:10 +0000https://www.omai.at/?p=3180Artists and musicians from around the world will come together at the official Tagtool Convention at Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, from 6th to 10th of September 2018. Hope to see you there!

]]>Join us at the official Tagtool Convention! It’s happening as part of Ars Electronica Festival 2018, from September 6th to 10th in Linz, Austria. There’ll be presentations, workshops, performances and lots of good clean Tagtool fun!

Time to get together

For more than a decade buildings and stages have lit up with spontaneous projections made with Tagtool. We Tagtoolers share an alternative vision of digital art, where creation and presentation happen simultaneously in front of a live audience. Think visual music, with Tagtool as the instrument and the projector as the amplifier.

The Ars Electronica Festival

Since 1979, the annual Ars Electronica festival has built a substantial global reputation as a gathering of artists, scientists and technologists, intended as a setting for experimentation, evaluation and reinvention. The Tagtool Convention will be integrated into the festival, making it possible to join the Tagtool community, as well as experiencing the cutting edge of the international media art scene.

The Tagtool Convention

Tagtool creators OMAi will host a large Tagtool Community area located in the industrial PostCity hall. This multifunctional projection space will be used for presentations, workshops and casual creative exchange. Tagtoolers of all ages and backgrounds are invited to become part of the action. Stay tuned for the schedule, which will include live performances and outdoor projections!

Program

We will announce confirmed artists on our forum www.tagtool.org! The detailed program of the convention will be displayed here about two weeks before the event.

]]>Tagtool Workshop in Plovdivhttps://www.omai.at/tagtool-workshop-in-plovdiv/
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 17:45:26 +0000https://www.omai.at/?p=3132OMAi held a workshop in the upcoming European Capital of Culture of 2019

]]>The Plovdiv 2019 Foundation and Ars Electronica invited OMAi to host a Tagtool workshop in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The event was part of their collaboration in preparation for Plovdiv’s time as the European Capital of Culture 2019. The result is a program called FORUM 2019: Create your World, and includes five different workshops at the intersection of art and technology.

The Workshop

The program was kicked off with a Tagtool workshop by Josef Dorninger of the OMAi crew. The location was an old tobacco factory, beautifully renovated to be used as a cultural project space. The participants turned out to be a very talented group, most of them artists themselves. Over seven hours the air was sparkling with creativity.

Projecting Outdoors

Given the good chemistry, it was no wonder that the group didn‘t stop there. In the evening they went outside in an area called Kapana, a creative district of Plovdiv. With music and beer the atmosphere inspired many passerbys to join the spontaneous and joyful happening.

Special thanks go out to Melformator for his technical support and good vibes!

As part of the exhibition, OMAi came to Raleigh for a series of projection art performances and workshops in May 2018.

Two community events named “Night Bright” featured large scale projection art performances in collaboration with artists from Raleigh, as well as allowing the audience to become part of the art in our so-called “Open Sessions”.

Furthermore, we taught the use of our projection art software Tagtool in several workshops aimed at different age groups. One of the highlights of the indoors activities were the “storytelling sessions”: a moderated show for kids, where we let the audience give the input for spontaneous and animated tales of the Unexpected. Big fun, and not a quiet moment!

We loved working on the beautiful architectural canvas of the NCMA — in the words of an esteemed visitor: “the walls found their highest calling”. We also loved working with the wonderful NCMA team, and getting the chance to meet so many new friends. And old ones too!

We plan to be back in Raleigh at the end of October 2018 for another three-week residency. The project is called “The St. Agnes Sessions”, in which we will project on the charismatic ruins of the historic St. Agnes hospital and various other sites around Raleigh.

]]>Tagtool Bike: Shenzhen and Shanghaihttps://www.omai.at/tagtool-bike-shenzhen-and-shanghai/
Tue, 16 Jan 2018 20:08:29 +0000https://www.omai.at/?p=2934OMAi went to China with the Tagtool Bike to promote the launch of "Loving Vincent"

A Critical Mass

At each location OMAi artis Matthias Fritz went on a mobile projection journey, projecting visual elements from “Loving Vincent” and spontaneous Tagtool art. Matthias biked through the streets and lit up the walls on the fly. He was followed by several dozen biking and art enthusiasts.

Joining the dots

The routes were set along selected spots in the respective cities. In Shenzhen it passed places such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Shenzhen Book City or the Coco Park. In Shanghai the route went along the Huangpu River with projections at the Bund and in Pudong.

Flowers to the People!

It was a happening for the people of the city and many passersby stopped to enjoy the scenery. Lots of people doing night shifts paused their work to take in the art. On top of all this, the production team gave sunflowers to everybody who joined the experience!

]]>In December 2017, OMAi presented an audiovisual projection called “Märchenbrüder” in Marburg, Germany. The 10 minute piece was shown on the facade of the Erwin Piscator building several times each hour for one night. It was commissioned as part of the event Marburg B(u)y Night, an urban illumination festival that attracts several tens of thousands each year since 2006.

“Märchenbrüder” is a homage to Marburg’s Romantic period. Its protagonists are the brothers Grimm, as well some of the most famous poets of German Romanticism, who all met in the university town during a short but fruitful period.

The piece starts with a spring scene, referenceing both the Grimm brothers’ idyllic youth in their parent’s bee garden, as well as scenes from the fairy tale “The willow-wren and the bear”.

Then a sudden break: after their father’s death, the brothers have to make their own way in life. The piece shows how younger brother Wilhelm travels by horse carriage to Marburg, to start his studies there. He is in a sentimental mood — original quotes from one of his letters give insight into his thoughts.

When he falls asleep, he is overcome by a vivid dream. In fragmentary visions of his future time in Marburg, he sees future friends and collegues, such as poet Sophie Mereau and Bettina von Arnim, as well as protagonists of the fairy tales that will make him and his brothers known around the world.

One of them, the “girl without hands”, becomes his spiritual guide and leads him up Marburg’s ubiquitous stairs to a tower overlooking the town, which inspired Bettina to write a beautiful passage in one of her letters. Like the poet did in real life, the girl without hands climbs up the tower and gazes into the distance until she feels as one with the foggy landscape.

The soundtrack of the piece was composed and performed by Philip Zoubek. The voiceover track was spoken by Christian Reiner. OMAi’s Maki and iink are responsible for direction and the visuals.

]]>This December the Serbian Science Festival Nauke invited OMAi to host a Tagtool installation at the Belgrade Fair. Markus and Josef of the OMAi team set up a panorama projection with two Tagtool stations.

A Tagtool marathon

The festival had over 30.000 visitors and it seemed like most of them found their way to the Tagtool station. Thanks to the fantastic support of our volunteer helpers we managed to keep everything under control for four extremely busy days in a row, nine hours a day.

Collective Creativity

People of all ages joined us at the installation. It was an ever-changing, colourful explosion of animated doodles, paintings and handwritten texts. Our visitors especially enjoyed taking photos next to their creations!

]]>Last weekend OMAi joined forces with Nigerian visual artists and musicians to present an innovative live show called Art X Live by Absolut, a high energy component of ART X Lagos in Nigeria. Absolut and West Africa’s premier international art fair got together a unique cast of talent under the label Electric Africa: The Digital Orchestra. All the ingredients blended into an extraordinary audiovisual experience!

Teaming Up

The visual part was provided by the up-and-coming artists Osaze Amadasun and Williams Chechet from Lagos. Absolut hooked them up with Josef Dorninger of the OMAi crew to present their Tagtool art at the show. The sound was presented by popular young Nigerian singers and musicians Poe, Tomi Thomas and Wavy the Creator.

Getting Ready

Within no time the artists were fluid with Tagtool and adapted their individual styles to this new medium. They developed the concept for the live show together with the musicians during rehearsals. They were ready for action!

The Show

The show was a big success. Osaze and Williams rocked on Tagtool, in the flow with the beats of the orchestra and the vocals. The audience celebrated this creative experiment!

]]>This year’s Ars Electronica Festival was a blast! We had five days filled with Tagtool action — the presentation of the New Tagtool, an installation at PostCity, several spontaneous outdoors projections, and a show at the amazing Deep Space.

Launch Event at Central

The New Tagtool was presented at Central, one of Ars Electronica’s venues right in the center of Linz. Markus Dorninger, OMAi’s design lead, started with a short recap of the story of the Tagtool project. After all, Tagtool is celebrating its first decade this year! After a demo of the new app, the audience could get their hands on the new app, while enjoying delicious African Sambusas with Austrian white wine.

Installation at PostCity

Throughout the festival, OMAi and the CREATE YOUR WORLD team hosted the Animation:Lab at PostCity, the main location of the Ars Electronica Festival. It offered a large panorama projection and two “micro-mapping” stations for objects (eg. Lego) to be painted with light. For nearly ten hours a day all stations where permanently in use by our visitors, many of them experiencing collaborative live painting and animation for the first time.

Spontaneous Outdoor Projections

Despite the tight schedule, the Tagtool Crew went out twice for guerrilla sessions at night. The first action was a playful re-interpretation the building-sized festival poster at the entrance of PostCity during the opening event. Two days later the Offenes Kulturhaus (another festival location) received some colorful interventions.

Deep Space at Ars Electronica Center

On the last day it was time for the grand finale at the immersive Deep Space in the Ars Electronica Center. OMAi created a custom-made scenario for this special projection setup: A majestic waterfall, flowing into a magical pond inside a colorful jungle. A group of kids came by and took full advantage of this unique interactive scenery. In other words, they went completely crazy. It was Tagtool wonderland!

Tagtool Artists and Community Support

During the festival days OMAi was supported by several Tagtoolers from the worldwide community. They contributed their skills, creativity and hard work to help presenting Tagtool in the best possible way. Many thanks and utmost respect go out to Yagu Art, Frances Sander, Dima Berzon and Tom Stockinger! Another round of special thanks is reserved for the incredible Team of U19 – Create Your World (Babsi, Lisa, Remo, Hans Christian)!